CSWS: Casuntingan fire displaces 1,300 individuals

Fire victims look at the what’s left of their house after it was destroyed by an afternoon fire on Thursday, November 14 in Barangay Casuntingan, Mandaue City. | Contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — More than 400 families composed of 1,300 individuals who were victims of the fire in Sitio Pilapil, Barangay Casuntingan in Mandaue City on Thursday afternoon, November 14, 2019, are now flocked inside the Casuntingan Gymnasium.

City Social Welfare and Services (CSWS) office of Mandaue City have so far distributed dry goods consisting of sleeping mats, towels, shirts, kitchen utensils and free meals, which were the fastest way to help the victims.

According to Mar Atuel of CSWS, they are still meeting with the other government departments regarding the monetary aid that will be given to the victims.

Atuel said that the at least P10,000 would be given to the owners of the houses while the renters would receive P5,000.

However, Atuel said they were still finalizing the list of the number of home owners that lost their homes which might take them a week or two.

Read more: Around 100 houses burned down in Mandaue City fire

He said this was an estimated date in case there would be members that would enlist on a double entry which would take up time especially when they would have to recount and verify again.

But Atuel assured that they were doubling their efforts in order to immediately provide for the needs of the victims.

On the other hand, Senior Fire Officer 3 (SFO3) Noel Codilla, fire investigator,  told CDN Digital that they were still determining the exact cause of the fire.

In their initial investigation yesterday, Codilla said the fire had two possible causes which might be an unattended cooking by a tenant or a cellphone charger that could have exploded in the second floor of Lenny Galites’ house, where the fire started.

The Mandaue fire department estimated the damage to property at P300,000. /dbs